More Australians than three years ago are using Optus fixed broadband and mobile phone services following Optus’ purchase of the Australian coverage rights for the English Premier League.

Optus signed a three year broadcast deal for the Australian rights to the English Premier League in late 2015 for $63 million per year and has this week renewed the deal for a further three years. The good news for Optus is that the deal has been successful in driving subscriber growth for both Optus mobile phone and fixed broadband services.

Percentage have Optus as service provider for main mobile
phone and fixed broadband – 2015 verus 2018

New research from Roy Morgan shows 20.9 per cent of Australians use Optus as their main mobile phone service provider in the year to March 2018, up 1.1 per cent from three years ago. For Australians who watch the English Premier League either regularly or occasionally on TV the jump has been more pronounced, up four per cent to 23.8 per cent.

There has been a similar impact for Australians who use Optus as their fixed broadband service provider. Now 12.2 per cent of Australians use Optus as their fixed broadband service provider, up 2.9 per cent from three years ago. Australians who watch the English Premier League either regularly or occasionally have driven this growth with 15.5 per cent now using Optus fixed broadband, up 4.7 per cent on three years ago.

Commenting on the findings, Roy Morgan CEO, Michele Levine, said: “Telecommunications company Optus took a huge gamble nearly three years ago by purchasing the Australian coverage rights to the English Premier League (EPL) for $63 million per year. However, the latest research from Roy Morgan shows viewers of the EPL have definitively boosted Optus subscriber growth for both fixed broadband and mobile services over the past three years.

“Those who watch the EPL either regularly or occasionally have switched to Optus at a greater rate for both fixed broadband services and mobile phone services.

“Usage of Optus as the main mobile phone service provider has increased by 4% for EPL viewers compared to 1.1% for all Australians in the last three years. Similarly for fixed broadband providers usage of Optus has increased by 4.7 per cent for EPL viewers compared to 2.9 per cent for all Australians.”